Nexus Devices On KitKat Plagued By NFC Bug

NFC or Near Field Communication is an important technology. Its found in most mid-range and high-end Android phones, in fact Google’s mobile OS has leveraged the technology to perform crucial tasks such as mobile payments and beaming of files between multiple devices. Google’s own crop of Nexus smartphones and tablets come with NFC, though a number of users who updated their Nexus devices to Android 4.4 KitKat found that the firmware broke NFC for them. Apparently there’s a bug that renders NFC useless on these devices, but fortunately Google is aware of the bug and has also found its root cause, meaning that it will be fixed in a future firmware release.

The bug is said to affect Nexus 4, Nexus 5, both Nexus 7 2012 and 2013 (Wi-Fi and Cellular) as well as the Nexus 10 tablets. Builds identified with the bug include Android 4.4 (KRT16S), Android 4.4.1 (KOT49E) and Android 4.4.2 (KOT49H). Users complain that Android’s NFC service forces closes when they try to connect their device with another or even turn off the device’s screen.

While there’s no official fix as yet, there is a workaround that lets users form at least one connection before the crash loop begins. Toggling airplane mode on the Nexus device makes the connection go through, but only for the time being.